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Blue Velvet (1986) More at IMDbPro »

In several scenes throughout the film, Frank Booth (played by Dennis Hooper) uses a mask to breathe in gas from a tank, and what the gas actually was has caused considerable debate over the years. In the script written by David Lynch, it is specified as being helium, to raise Frank's voice to a higher pitched tone. On the DVD, Hopper explains that when he filmed Blue Velvet, he had just gone through detox and was clean for the first time in several years. He brought with him considerable knowledge of various narcotics, hallucinogens, etc, and told Lynch that he didn't feel helium would be right. Rather, he said, he believed that Frank would have a tank of amyl nitrate (also known as "Poppers"), a drug used medically by heart patients to regulate their heartbeat, and recreationally in altered doses to relax the muscles and induce a state of euphoria. Hopper said that he had experimented with the drug, and that during his highs he experienced visual hallucinations of glowing objects in front of him. Lynch liked the idea and incorporated it into the film; hence Frank's "grabbing" motions in some scenes after he's been inhaling.

Hopper would later go on to say that he wished that he hadn't convinced Lynch not to use helium, as it only occurred to him after filming how unsettling it would be for a maniac to be inhaling it and then threatening people with a high pitched voice.

David Lynch is very well known for producing very symbolic films, thus Blue Velvet is no exception. Basically, all the viewer needs to remember is that Lynch states light = good and darkness = danger and evil. Therefore, the candle would basically mean that help was close, or goodness was present. In the scenes when the candle would dim, or go out completely, would mean that good or help have been diminished.

Since Blue Velvet was a thematically rich production, Lynch frequently incorporated distinct and strong images, and Blue Velvet is one of the greatest examples, as the film features almost all of his trademarks (highways at night, small town USA, diners, red curtains, cigarettes, smoke, fire, electricity, extreme close ups, heavenly female figures, a hero, and a villain). Lynch has also mentioned deliberately placing symbols and metaphors into Blue Velvet in particular.

If you are still confused, remember you can always ask the question on the message boards for the film.

The severed ear is a key symbolic moment in Blue Velvet, so yes. The importance of the scene is because the ear is what leads Jeffrey into danger. Indeed, just as Jeffrey's troubles begin, the audience is treated to a nightmarish sequence in which the camera zooms into the ear canal of the severed, decomposing ear. Notably, the camera does not reemerge from the ear canal until the end of the film. When Jeffrey finally comes through his hellish ordeal unscathed, the ear canal shot is replayed, only in reverse, zooming out through Jeffrey's own ear as he relaxes in his yard on a summer day.

The bugs seen writhing and fighting at the beginning of the film symbolize the dark and violent world that lies just barely beneath the veneer of simple small-town life, as typified by the immaculate green lawn. A product of small-town upbringing himself, Lynch often explores the darker side of what is often stereotypically seen as the simple, decent life of rural comunities.

The Blue Velvet soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti is a dark combination of classic composition and vintage/modern pop songs, which mirrors the film's un-stated setting envisioned by David Lynch. Thus, the film has become noted for its diverse musical selections. Scene as a prominent stylistic feature in the film is the unconventional use of vintage pop songs, such as Bobby Vintons "Blue Velvet" and Roy Orbison's "In Dreams," juxtaposed with an orchestral score inspired largely by Shostakovich. The score makes direct quotations from Shostakovich's 15th Symphony, which Lynch had been listening to regularly while writing the screenplay.

There are several 1950s-style pop songs that play a strong role in Blue Velvet and are invaluable in helping Lynch show the evil as a contrast against the music. These are by far the most important sound elements because they operate throughout the film. Besides the traditional dialogue and the aforementioned songs, the sound in Blue Velvet is primarily traditional instrumentation, consisting of strings and wind instruments. In the credit sequence, a mysterious, undulating string arrangement seem to foreshadow that the film will be a mystery. This alludes to the film's mysterious plot, futher alluded by the recurring snoop music played throughout the film, most notably while Jeffery plays detective while exploring the underworld."The Mysteries of Love" song is usually played during the love scenes between Jeffery and Sandy. "In Dreams" can be considered as Franks motto. The dichotomy between good and evil in Lumberton is almost like day and night, where evil, symbolized by Frank, is night.

Lynch worked with well-known music composer Angelo Badalamenti for the first time in this film and asked him to write a score that had to be like Shostakovich: very Russian, the most beautiful thing, yet dark and a little bit scary. Badalamenti's success with Blue Velvet landed him a place as a contributor to all of Lynch's future feature films.

The track listing is as follows, with the duration of each song/extract in brackets:

1."Main Title" (1:27)

2."Night Streets/Sandy and Jeffrey" (3:42)

3."Frank" (3:34) "Jeffrey's Dark Side" (1:48)

4. "Mysteries of Love" (2:10)

5. "Frank Returns" (4:39)

6. "Mysteries of Love" [instrumental] (4:41)

7. "Blue Velvet/Blue Star" (3:14)

8. "Lumberton U.S.A./Going Down to Lincoln" (2:13)

9. "Akron Meets the Blues" (2:40)

10. Bill Doggett - "Honky Tonk, Pt. 1" (3:09)

11. Roy Orbison - "In Dreams" (2:48)

12. Ketty Lester - "Love Letters" (2:36)

13. Julee Cruise - "Mysteries of Love" (4:22)

In a sense, no film is at all very similar to Blue Velvet, and it's that sense of originality which made the film very popular. However here's a list of films that fans have suggested those who like Blue Velvet might want to watch as well, or films that have been compared to the film:

The Butterfly Effect

The Night of the Hunter

Donnie Darko

Twin Peaks (series & movie also directed by David Lynch).

Mulholland Dr. (also directed by David Lynch).

Rear Window

American Beauty

Lantana

Disturbia

Rivers Edge

Lost Highway (Also Directed by David Lynch).

Requiem for a Dream

Wild At Heart (also directed by David Lynch).

Oldboy, an intense Korean film.

Yes, there are many. Probably the two best that are soley dedicated to the film are "Blue Velvet" by Charles Drazin, published in 2001, which can be found on Amazon, or an insight purely by the author; not really a universal guide, but it's a good read and is also titled "Blue Velvet." It was written by Michael Atkinson in 1997. Both books are still in print.

In North Carolina, USA.

It belonged to Dorothy's husband, who can be seen in the film's final moments when Jeffery walks into Dorothy's apartment to have one last confrontation with Frank Booth. Dorothy's husband is the man with blue velvet material stuck in his mouth, missing one of his ears, which Jeffery found earlier in the film.

The final scene of the film depicts a robin devouring a bug-- bugs having previously been used to symbolize the evil beneath the surface of Lumberton. In the script, the robin is intended to symbolize good triumphing over evil. However, the robin at the end of the film appears quite obviously fake, leading to speculation that it is a false victory.

According to the DVD special features, David Lynch had initially tried to use a real robin, which no animal trainer could get to move on cue. Because of the robin's unpredictableness, Lynch ordered a hurried construction on a mechanical robin so that the scene could be filmed. Because of the rushed schedule and technology available in 1986, the robin is quite obviously fake; this was not intentional, however. In fact, it was supposed made using an actual (dead) robin that the prop designer had found on the way in to work that day. Whether or not Lynch ultimately re-worked the intended meaning of the scene to indicate that the peace that had returned to Lumberton is false and fleeting has been the subject of fan speculation since the film's release.

Not quite; Frank had done something to him to give him severe brain damage (in one of the establishing shots of the apartment, the viewer can see a large chunk of the man's brains bulging out through a hole in his skull). Frank does kill him, though, upon returning.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie.